Topper (comic strip)
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A topper in comic strip parlance is the small strip on a Sunday page which is drawn by the same artist as the larger strip. Toppers usually ran at the top of the page (hence their name), but they sometimes ran at the bottom of the page.
The purpose of a topper was to allow newspapers to drop the topper and place an additional strip or an additional advertisement into the Sunday comics section, or to reformat a strip from full-page size to tabloid by adding or dropping the topper.
Toppers became rare after World War II, when there were fewer full-page strips, and they vanished a few decades later. Maw Green in Little Orphan Annie was the last Sunday strip topper, except for the brief use of the topper Sawdust in Dick Tracy.
Some underground and alternative comic artists have used toppers in their work, though not in the context of a Sunday strip. The strip Fat Freddy's Cat appeared as a topper in the underground comic book The Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers. Tony Millionaire's weekly comic strip Maakies is perhaps the only contemporary syndicated strip to run a topper (which appears at the bottom of the main strip and lacks a consistent title). Toppers have also been used in some comics by Chris Ware and Daniel Clowes to mimic the format of a Sunday comics page.
[edit] Notable toppers
- Barney Google -- Parlor, Bedroom and Sink and Bunky
- Blondie -- Colonel Potterby and the Duchess
- Bringing Up Father -- Snookums and Rosie's Beau
- Dick Tracy -- Sawdust (bottom of the page, short run)
- Ella Cinders -- Chris Crusty
- The Family Upstairs -- Krazy Kat (bottom of the page, first appearance of Krazy Kat, later continued as separate strip)
- The Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers -- Fat Freddy's Cat (underground imitation of the old comic strip format, usually bottom of the page)
- Flash Gordon -- Jungle Jim (sometimes run as a separate strip)
- Gasoline Alley -- That Phoney Nickel (bottom of the page)
- The Gumps -- Cousin Juniper
- Harold Teen -- Josie
- Joe Palooka -- War Time Anecdotes
- The Katzenjammer Kids -- Dinglehoofer und his dog Adolph
- Li'l Abner -- Washable Jones, Small Fry (aka Small Change), Advice fo' Chillun
- Little Annie Rooney -- Ming Foo
- Little Jimmy -- Mr. Jack, 1926-35
- Little Orphan Annie -- Maw Green (bottom of the page, the last topper in the Sunday comics)
- Moon Mullins -- Kitty Higgins
- Mutt and Jeff -- Cicero's Cat
- Polly and Her Pals -- Dot and Dash
- Prince Valiant -- The Medieval Castle (short run)
- Room and Board -- The Squirrel Cage
- Smitty -- Herby
- Superman -- Lois Lane Girl Reporter
- Texas Slim and Dirty Dalton -- Buzzy
- Thimble Theater -- Sappo
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